Wei Yuan pressed deeper along the route he had extracted through interrogation. Passing an intersection, he spotted a transparent block of ice containing the frozen corpse of a human cultivator. Terror was frozen across the man's face, preserving his final moments, though there was no telling how long he had been entombed there.
This was a boundary marker set by the Sea Li as a warning.
Such markers were typically warded with alarm spells. Leaving it untouched, Wei Yuan held his breath, withdrew his aura, and slipped right past it.
Wei Yuan figured that of the two following behind him, the Peacock Monk likely wouldn't stand by and stomach such a sight, and Zhao Fusheng definitely wouldn't. Once they smashed the marker and triggered the alarm, Wei Yuan would already be safely tucked away. When the Sea Li marched out to face the intruders, he could fish in troubled waters and see what treasures their lair held.
He continued inward, encountering several Sea Li patrols along the way, slipping past them all without incident.
Nearly a hundred li further in, Wei Yuan emerged from a tunnel opening. Before him lay a subterranean space of staggering proportions.
Running through the center of this cavern was a fissure several li wide, brimming with seawater, from which Sea Li leaped from time to time. The rock walls on both sides had been hollowed out almost completely into honeycomb-like dwellings. Lamps glowed inside many of them, making the walls resemble surfaces embedded with luminous pearls from afar.
Wei Yuan had not expected the Sea Li lair to be on such a scale. At the very least, tens of thousands lived here. Before setting out, the Bao family had provided no intelligence on this whatsoever. It seemed their last reconnaissance of this area had taken place a very long time ago.
Wei Yuan recorded the cave's layout. When the time came, this intelligence alone would surely earn him significant merit.
Along the way, Wei Yuan had noticed that this secret realm was relatively barren, with hardly any valuable spiritual or mineral veins to speak of. No wonder the Bao family had chosen it as a battlefield for trials.
Just as he was considering his next move, a terrifying pressure suddenly descended upon the entire cavern! It felt cold, damp, and slimy, accompanied by the surging roar of tides echoing from every direction.
The calm seawater suddenly churned violently, specks of light gleaming beneath the surface as powerful Sea Li burst forth one after another. From the cavern vault descended a Sea Maiden. She blew hard into a conch shell, and faint halos of light erupted over the Sea Li warriors, surging their strength as they swarmed toward the exit!
Evidently, someone had triggered the boundary marker's alarm.
Wei Yuan held his breath, pushing the treasure tree's concealing ability to its peak. Taking advantage of the chaos, he flicked out several small pebbles, embedding them in various spots, then closed his eyes and switched to observing the outside world through the stones formed from his Dao Foundation. This way, his direct gaze wouldn't draw unwanted attention.
Inside the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, the mortals split into several groups to study the Sea Li's habitat, habits, population structure, and the flavor and texture of various cuts of their meat.
Fierce fluctuations of dharmic power surged from the distance, so powerful that the colossal underground chamber trembled. A tiny pebble dropped from above, bounced off Wei Yuan's head, and rolled away.
Wei Yuan remained impassive, continuing his observation. However, the observation stones he had placed in the core battle area were instantly obliterated by the storm of dharmic power, preventing him from seeing the ongoing clash. Wei Yuan made a mental note: next time, he needed to study how to increase the durability of the stones formed by his Dao Foundation so they wouldn't be destroyed so easily.
At that moment, a massive Sea Li over ten zhang long wound through the air, charging toward the battlefield. Rolling waves surged around it, and its terrifying aura immediately told Wei Yuan that this was a Scenery Command expert.
Yet blue skies and white clouds suddenly manifested within the underground realm. Sunlight—having pierced through who knew how many strata of earth—beamed down into the cavern. Under the blazing light, white smoke rose from countless Sea Li as they rolled on the ground in agony.
Enraged, the Sea Li expert flanked by churning tides charged into the blue sky together with his sea. Sky and ocean vanished simultaneously as the two mighty figures departed to duel beyond the skies.
Just as Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, another stone dropped from above, landing squarely on his head.
Twice in the exact same spot—was that a coincidence? Wei Yuan continued holding his breath with eyes closed, surveying his surroundings through the Dao Foundation stones, yet spotted nothing amiss.
Sea Li warriors continued rushing toward the battlefield. The sound of ocean tides in the air grew louder and louder, waves faintly manifesting amidst the din. This was the Sea Li's unique military qi; when concentrated enough, it could drown opponents outright.
As the distant storm of dharmic power grew fiercer, Wei Yuan couldn't help but marvel. Who would have thought the young island master and the Peacock Monk were actually so strong?
Right then, a stone the size of a watermelon dropped, plummeting straight for Wei Yuan's head!
Only then did Wei Yuan realize something was wrong. He looked up, spotting a Sea Maiden hovering several zhang above him.
She had long blue hair and a giant conch shell hanging at her waist. A playful glint shone in her eyes as she casually tossed an even larger stone up and down in her hand. Clearly, the first two pebbles had been her doing as well.
Wei Yuan felt helpless. The treasure tree's concealing ability was godlike against cultivators relying on divine sense, but against someone who happened to look with their naked eyes, there was simply no helping it.
With a soft spit, the Sea Maiden dropped the pearl from her mouth. Her pupils narrowed into vertical slits as she stared intently at Wei Yuan, flicking her long tongue to lick her lips.
Wei Yuan sighed. Sea Maidens were lecherous and ferocious by nature; a vicious fight was unavoidable.
In an instant, another storm of dharmic power erupted, shaking the entire cavern. Far away, mid-battle, Zhao Fusheng and the Peacock Monk both shuddered. Wondering who possessed such tremendous strength, they realized that the waters of this underground secret realm truly ran deep.
Many familiar names flashed through their minds, yet Wei Yuan was not among them.
Inside the cavern, the clash grew ever more intense. With one hand, Wei Yuan unleashed sweeping arcs of the Water Blade Art, sending Sea Li scattering in all directions; with the other, he continually stuffed explosive powder charges into every crevice. Moving like wind and lightning, he left a trail of ceaseless detonations behind him, throwing the sprawling Sea Li city into utter pandemonium all on his own.
The Sea Maiden pursued him relentlessly, only to see Wei Yuan hand her a small cylindrical canister. She caught it instinctively, and it detonated in her grasp. The Soul-Shaking Demonic Sound reverberated outward, instantly plunging her into blackness while dropping the surrounding Sea Li in droves.
Wei Yuan was surprised to find that the Soul-Shaking Demonic Sound worked exceptionally well against the Sea Li. He promptly hurled over a dozen demonic sound bombs in one breath, sealing his own ears with dharmic power.
Amidst the confusion, Wei Yuan also lit an authentic stick of Demonic Soul-Eroding Incense, casually sticking it into a sheltered, windless corner.
By the time the Sea Maiden recovered from the agonizing throbbing of her primordial soul, she found more than half the city plunged into chaos. Many Sea Li were killing one another in the fumes, and no small number had fallen to their own comrades' spells. By then, Wei Yuan was nowhere to be seen.
Her pupils shifted back into golden vertical slits, turning her vision purely blue. A single red figure was quietly slipping into a cave, preparing to make his escape.
With a piercing whistle, she summoned nearby powerful clansmen, and together they plunged into the cavern. Just as they entered, the entrance behind them detonated. Massive rock strata collapsed, sealing the entrance shut, while an explosion ahead simultaneously blocked their path forward.
Then, sword-mines detonated one after another throughout the tunnel. Countless flying swords screamed back and forth, instantly splattering the cave walls with Sea Li blood!
Meanwhile, Wei Yuan was inside the rock face along the tunnel's flank, excavating forward with the Water Blade Art. The entrance behind him had originally been sealed with Dao Foundation stone; now, with the concealed mines detonated, it was thoroughly buried beneath collapsed dirt and rubble.
Wei Yuan relaxed, patiently tunneling ahead. According to the terrain map he had consulted upon entering, digging another fifty zhang would bring him into another natural karst cave, allowing him to escape from there.
Outside, the storm of dharmic power never paused for an instant. Zhao Fusheng and the Peacock Monk fought with increasing ferocity, displaying immense, profound reserves of dharmic power.
Emerging from the rock face in a relatively secluded corner, Wei Yuan froze. He found himself staring blankly at none other than the flying marten, both wide-eyed in astonishment.
The flying marten abruptly took two steps back, hiding an object behind its back. Wei Yuan put on an insincere smile and gestured to offer a trade.
To his surprise, the flying marten flatly refused. Clutching the object behind its back, it turned and bolted.
Yet no sooner had its figure vanished than it reappeared less than a zhang away. Its spatial blink had been thoroughly useless.
Holding the item with its two front paws, it ran on its hind legs, but after just two steps, it fell flat on its face again. Its aura plummeted rapidly, and it panted desperately for breath.
Wei Yuan was stunned.
Small though the Shadowless Flying Marten was, it was a supreme spirit beast. This one had even attained spiritual awareness, standing on the very cusp of becoming an immortal beast. If it truly wanted to haul something, dragging several thousand jin would be nothing to it. The dossier from the Bao family clearly stated that this very marten had once stolen eight thousand jin of spiritual ore from their treasure vault in a single heist.
The object it held was barely the size of a pinecone, yet it was so heavy that even the marten couldn't carry it?
Falling to the ground, the object sank into the bedrock and vanished within moments, like a lump of iron dropping into water.
Wei Yuan immediately transmitted a thought: *Let me try.* Locking onto the object with his divine sense, he sensed it steadily sinking through the stone, with no end in sight. Making a split-second decision, Wei Yuan drew the Crimson Night Immortal-Slaying Sword and stabbed a deep hole into the ground. He stuffed in an explosive charge and detonated it with Dao power.
Amidst a thunderous roar, a deep pit blasted open in the stone. Wei Yuan leaped in, stabbed another hole with his sword, and detonated another charge. Repeating the process several times, he blasted a shaft several zhang deep into the ground. Having surpassed the depth of the falling object, Wei Yuan thrust his sword horizontally to pierce a narrow opening, reached his hand inside, and caught it just in time.
The moment it landed in his palm, Wei Yuan's hand sank heavily, his bones cracking under the strain. Quickly unleashing his physical potential, blood surging through his veins, he managed to pull his arm back. He opened his palm to look: resting within was a deep-blue orb of unknown material. Incredibly heavy, it weighed tens of thousands of jin.
Seawater rippled within the orb. Gripping it, Wei Yuan felt his Dao power begin to drain. Now he understood what had happened to the marten: not only was the orb astonishingly heavy, but it also absorbed Dao and dharmic power. Holding it was akin to constantly casting Dao arts; even a spirit beast like the marten couldn't endure it for long.
The flying marten scurried over, gazing eagerly at the orb. Wei Yuan offered it back, but the marten squeaked and stepped back, looking both covetous and terrified.
Wei Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll keep it with me for now, and we can discuss it once we're outside?"
The marten actually nodded. Wei Yuan was amazed. "You understand human speech?"
The marten sent back a vague thought, conveying the sentiment that human speech was so simple any living creature could understand it.
Wei Yuan didn't call its bluff. After all, most spirit beasts learned human speech only after being captured and domesticated. Only a rare few immortal beasts gifted with mind-reading or similar innate divine abilities could grasp human language instinctively without instruction.
With a shift of his divine sense, Wei Yuan sent the orb into the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. The instant it entered, it expanded into a colossal orb a hundred zhang across, crashing down from the sky and gouging a massive crater in the earth, leaving only a small portion exposed aboveground.
Crashing down within the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, its weight was no longer tens of thousands of jin—it weighed closer to tens of millions.
That the orb could be stored within the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains proved it was an immortal artifact.
Seeing the orb vanish into thin air, the marten grew frantic and searched everywhere.
Wei Yuan said, "I've temporarily stored it in my sea of consciousness. Once we get out, we'll find a way to meet up, and I'll give it back to you. You can't carry it right now anyway, and leaving it behind would only benefit someone else."
*Then I'm following you,* the marten conveyed.
Wei Yuan shook his head. "I still have several big battles ahead; following me will only get you dragged into trouble. One of those fights is with that monk, who wants to catch you the moment he sees you. Oh, monks are also called thieving baldies—people with no hair on their heads."
Wei Yuan did his best to keep his explanation simple and plain. Whether the marten understood remained to be seen, but someone else certainly did.
A monk in green robes stepped forth, gazing darkly at Wei Yuan. "Benefactor's profound grasp of the Dharma proves that you are indeed bound by fate to our Buddha."
Chapter 401